Loop Looks

Blazer – The Limited (similar) | Shirt – Target (similar) | Jeans – The Limited (similar) | Scarf – NYC street vendor (similar) | Shoes – Lucky Brand (similar) | Watch – Groopdealz (similar)

Oh, I know. Let’s not go too crazy and wear a black blazer in a different outfit! But, hey, admittedly, yesterday’s outfit didn’t leave me a lot to work with for the Take One, Pass It On Challenge. I mean, there’s only so many things you can do with black pants, a black blazer, and black heels, right? However, I love the idea of wearing a blazer for a casual outfit. In fact, I do it WAY too often. But, really, a blazer can take a weekend outfit and turn it into a Casual Friday outfit with minimal effort. I know, it’s not ground breaking. But not every outfit or tip can be.

Besides, I decided that in honor of Just Another Smith’s leopard challenge this week I was going to try and wear ALL my leopard print accessories. Scarf? Check. Watch? Check. Shoes? Check. Admittedly I couldn’t figure out how to wear both my leopard flats AND my leopard heels so I went with flats. I mean, it is Friday after all.

And speaking of Friday, here’s the round-up of the outfits for the second week of the Take One, Pass It On Challenge!

P.S. This door I’m standing in front of? It used to be red. I miss my red door.

Also linking up with AJ Wears Clothes

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Shirt – Old Navy (similar) | Skirt – The Limited (similar) | Necklace – J. Crew via Poshmark (similar) | Shoes – Bandolino (same)

Good morning, chambray; Monday says hello. You polka dot above us, and there’s polka dots below.

Okay, I’ll stop now. Kudos if you know what lyrics I’m spoofing.  Anyway, yes, it’s a polka dot chambray sort of day. Why? Because Two Birds gave us this Inspiration Monday photo and while I could have gone with a plain chambray over my lace dress I decided that double polka dots with a chambray shirt and my pleated skirt were better.

 Inspiration Photo Source

Why better? See, today I am meeting Jen from Librarian for Life and Style for the first time! And since she’s one of the reasons I bought this skirt (she has an adorable twirly pleated skirt I love) I thought it appropriate that I wear it for our very first meeting.

Tucked in or knotted? I couldn’t decide.

There are lots of other fun things going on this week! First, today and tomorrow I’m also doing Sarah’s Real Life Pin to Real Life Pinterest challenge. Why only today and tomorrow? Well, Wednesday I’ll be posting my June shopping summary and then Thursday and Friday I’m out of the office for the Fourth of July holiday.

Never fear, though, if you need a Loop Looks fix later this week I do have some non-outfit posts coming up. Consider it my Fourth of July holiday gift to you.

P.S. It was really windy on the roof.

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Shirt – Target (similar) | Belt – The Limited (similar) | Skirt – BCBG outlet (similar) | Shoes – Mia (similar) | Bracelet – JF&A Show (similar) | Necklace – NY&Co (similar)

Total outfit cost = $123

Today I  have a lunch meeting to meet a new department head so I decided to forgo my usual Friday Casual jeans and instead wear this pleated jersey skirt (with pockets!) with my very first chambray top. Today is the day to showcase your favorite Target score for Whitney and Heidi’s  “We Love Target” link-up.

I bought this chambray shirt almost two years ago off the clearance rack at Target. I don’t remember how much I paid for it but I do know it was probably my best Target purchase in awhile (other than my red trench coat that also came off the clearance rack).  Unfortunately the Target closest to my apartment – the one I can walk to – doesn’t have the best clothing section, clearance or otherwise, so I haven’t gotten any good deals recently.

This skirt, though, I bought in 2009 at an outlet mall in Napa, California for a song. It’s super comfy and has held up amazingly well for jersey material. It has a slightly casual feel to it but it’s also easy to dress up, as evidenced by the time I wore it to work with heels.

However, to keep with the Target love theme, the shirt, skirt, and shoes listed in the links above are all from Target! Because, really, who couldn’t use a black skirt, a chambray top, and a pair of red ballet flats?

Also linking up with AJ Wears Clothes

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Blazer – Macy’s (similar) | Shirt – Old Navy (similar) | Pants – Gap (similar) | Heels – Macy’s (similar)

Total outfit cost = $98

Today is the Third Thursday link-up at Work Clothes, I Suppose and I had grand plans of recreating an outfit that Bri herself had inspired me to wear. However, I totally failed and recreated the wrong red pants outfit! Instead, I put together an outfit similar to one I saw last fall on Lily Says Go.  Either way, it’s red pants and a camel blazer with leopard shoes. I just wore chambray instead of my gold polka dot top. And now I have that outfit to look forward to!

Anyway, today’s Third Thursday theme is “Work Wear”. Considering I wear what I think of as “work wear” every day, this isn’t a stretch. But I think the fact that I paired two pieces that could be considered slightly casual (cropped pants, chambray-ish shirt) but added heels and a blazer that my outfit is work appropriate without being traditional.

I mean, I own several suits (and have even worn them on the blog on occasion) but I think that’s an easy cop-out! One of my goals for this blog is to help women dress for work without feeling constrained by traditional work outfits! So, wear those red pants, add those leopard heels, wear something other than black! You can do it, I promise.

Also linking up with Mix & Match Fashion.

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Taking a quick break from this week’s 5 Days, 5 Ways challenge to share this story with you.

Last month a bunch of my Chicago Running Blogger friends and I  met up for a quick run before drinking ourselves silly at the Half Acre Brewery tour. I didn’t do a write-up on my running blog but if you’re curious, there are quite a few write-ups from my friends who didn’t fall asleep on the couch when they got home after all that beer.

The highlight (and the reason I’m writing this post) of the tour was drinking three pints of beer in about an hour after very little food.  We got a little giddy and the group decided that we loved our tour guide’s hipster outfit pictured above and wanted to recreate it.  “Host a link-up, Erin!” They said.  So here we are.

Chambray shirt – Old Navy (similar)| Lace shirt – The Limited (similar) | Pants – The Limited (similar) | Shoes – Anne Klein | Belt – The Limited (similar)| Necklaces – gift & post-race swag

Of course, I went with an office-appropriate version so it’s more preppy than hipster. But what about my blogger buddies?  Check out their interpretations below.

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Shirt – Target (similar) | Tank – The Limited (similar) | Skirt – The Limited (similar) | Shoes – Karen Scott via Macy’s (similar) | Necklace – JC Penney (similar)

For everyone who guessed the necklace in yesterday’s post as my Take One and Pass It On item, you win!  Not sure what you win.  Bragging rights, maybe?  Anyway, yes, I chose to wear the necklace again.  It’s such a statement piece so I wanted to show how it could be toned down a bit.

However, the rest of my outfit just isn’t working for me.  I think I just prefer to wear black shoes when I wear black tights.  The shoes are just jarring to my eyes.  I think there’s just a big too much going on in this outfit for me.  Thoughts?

Also, what do you think I’ll be wearing from today’s outfit tomorrow?

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Blazer – ?? (similar) | Shirt – Old Navy (similar) | Belt – The Limited (similar) | Pants – The Limited (similar) | Shoes – Ann Klein (similar)

Pairing the polka dot chambray shirt with these plaid pants has been an outfit on my mind for a few months.  I loved the idea of mixing the two patterns but breaking it up by wearing the tan blazer over the top.  A great way to do pattern mixing is to do two subtle prints but add in some solids so you don’t look too crazy.

I even mentioned wanting to wear this outfit the last time I paired these plaid pants with a plain chambray shirt.  Yes, I own two chambray shirts.  No, I don’t think that’s too many.   Chambray is just so versatile.  Wear it with black jeans and boots and a scarf and you have a casual weekend outfit.  Pair it with dress pants and a blazer and you’re ready to attend a monthly meeting of your professional organization (at least, that’s what I’m doing today.  Your mileage may vary).

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First thing’s first: have you taken the one year anniversary reader survey yet??

Blazer – J. Crew | Striped top – The Limited | Chambray top – Old Navy (similar) | Jeans – The Limited | Boots – Bandolino (similar) | Necklace – JF&A Show (similar)

In the apartment building where my husband and I live there are three floors of parking.  Jason and I park our car on the second floor.  But after taking outfit photos there last week we decided to check out the third floor to see if there was anything interesting there.  We felt like parking structure interlopers trespassing on floor three!  Of course we weren’t really trespassing.

Turns out that apparently floor three is where all the people with swanky vehicles park.  There were at least two Porsches, a big honkin’ Harley, a Pontiac GTO and this Ducati.  I don’t know much about motorcycles but my husband informed me that a Ducati is an expensive bike.  I just thought it made a good backdrop to my incredibly preppy outfit.

This outfit is also a copy of a photo that has been floating around Pinterest for awhile.

I have no idea what the original source of this photo is (I even used Google Image Search to try and figure it out).  But I do know that many, many people have pinned it or blogged it so my outfit isn’t all that original.  But I’m down with that.  I think it’s great to see different people and different body types copy an outfit so you can see what it looks like on everyone.  And, of course, unless you have the EXACT same pieces as the original outfit you’re going to put your own spin on it.  And that’s the whole fun of using a photo to get inspired.

I never would have worn this many layers before seeing this photo but now that I have it’s a look I’m enjoying.  Especially in the winter when layers are key to keeping warm!

Linking up with 235 Designs | Texas Lovebirds | Long Distance Loving

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Chambray – Old Navy (similar)| Sweater – Gap (similar)| Pants – Target | Shoes – Bandolino via DSW (similar flats) (similar heels)| Necklace – The Limited (similar)

 Inspired by Jessica of Bows & Sequins I decided to keep myself warm on this chilly Chicago day by layering a sweater over a chambray shirt.  Her outfit was for a casual day with the family during the holidays but I took my up a notch for work by wearing burgundy dress pants, heels, and some jewels.

To be honest, I saw an adorable gray snowflake sweater at H & M earlier this month and almost bought it.  But, really, how often can you wear a snowflake sweater?  Especially when you already have a perfectly serviceable gray sweater in your closet?  See, look at me using things I already own!

Doesn’t mean I’m not still thinking about that sweater.

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Shirt – Target (similar) | Pants- The Limited (similar) | Belt – The Limited (similar) | Shoes – Bandolino | Watch – JF&A Tradeshow (similar) | Vest (below) – Express via Poshmark (similar)

The original plan was to wear my camel colored blazer with this outfit.  But, really, I would have been too warm and the rolled sleeves on the top just weren’t working with it.  So, I have grand plans to recreate this outfit with my polka dot chambray top at another time and wear the blazer with that.

In the mean time, since it’s still strangely warm in Chicago I was able to get away with just wearing my fur vest!  Crazy.  Also, I wanted to point out that this is yet another outfit that I would have never thought to create with my plaid pants.  Chambray and plaid?  It seems so obvious now.  Breaking out of your “these pants go with this top” routine can lead to some really fun outfits.

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